Hyperglycemia, an abnormally elevated level of blood sugar, is the primary symptom of diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disease characterized by inadequate response to insulin or inadequate secretion of insulin from the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. Control of elevated blood sugar levels may be achieved through injection of insulin or by administration of pharmaceutical hypoglycemic agents, usually by the oral route. The majority of known hypoglycemic agents are sulfonylureas, such as chlorpropamide and tolazamide, and biguanides, such as phenformin.
It has now been discovered that certain N-(2-substituted-3-aminopropenylidene)alkanaminium salts are active as oral hypoglycemic agents. Several of these compounds are known to the prior art. With the exception of a study by Rada, et al., (Chemotherapy 20, 141-7 (1974)), in which N-(3-(dimethylamino)-2-ethoxy2-propenylidene)-N-methylmethanaminium perchlorate was tested unsuccessfully for antiviral activity, however, it has not previously been suggested that the N-(2-substituted-3-aminopropenylidene)alkanaminium salts of the present invention have any biological activity.